


Forgiveness, Can You Imagine?

by mustachio



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Attempted Fratricide, Gen, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, rebuilding relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 08:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7677865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mustachio/pseuds/mustachio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Through Zenyatta's teachings and distance from Hanzo, Genji learned to forgive his brother. Hanzo spent the years following Genji's "death" mourning his brother and living with the weight of his remorse for what he had done. Now, the Shimada brothers have been reunited and they must learn to reconcile the people they were with the people they've become.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forgiveness, Can You Imagine?

_They drag Hanzo away from the battle grounds before the dust has time to settle. Genji tries to watch. Between the blood that drips into his eyes and his concussion, he doesn't see much._   
_  
_ Genji is lying on the ground, his face half buried in the dirt. He cannot move. He cannot feel his body. There is no pain. Everything seems to be drifting away from him—his limbs, his consciousness. He imagines that soon, very soon, even his life will drift away. Genji closes his eyes.

  
_In the darkness he sees flashes of blue and green, dragons leaving nothing but destruction in their wake. There is the hazy image of Hanzo standing over him._   
  
At least, _Genji thinks,_ Hanzo could not stand over him for long.   
  
_Hanzo may have taken his life, but Genji takes some satisfaction from taking Hanzo's legs._   
  
_When he opens his stinging eyes he spots a phone shaped blur lying on the ground next to him. His fingers don't even twitch when he thinks to grab for it. Inconvenient. He had plans to meet with some friends at the arcade tonight. No chance of telling them he can't make it like this._   
  
_"Fuck."_   
  
_The voice that comes out is not a voice at all. It is a knife dragging itself through the inside of Genji's ruined throat, barely brush of air against his lips. He clenches his teeth, tries to breath. Even his lungs will not respond to his brain. He only manages short gasps, bursts of air that cannot sustain what little life he has left._   
  
_Hanzo, Genji tries to scream. His lips form the word, but there is no sound to it. There is only the knife—no, a dragon. A dragon dragging itself through his throat, tearing him up from the inside._   
  
Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck _._   
  
_He can't move. He can't speak. He can't breathe. Fuck. He's going to die. He's going to die here on the ground far from home and without his brother or anyone he has ever cared about to help him._   
  
_Genji is going to die and Hanzo fucking killed him._   
  
_There is wetness on his face. Blood. Perhaps tears. It has been a long time since Genji has cried, but while he is dying seems like a fitting time to do it. It is hard to tell what it is when even opening his eyes reveals only nothingness and even his face has gone numb._   
  
_Somewhere nearby a debris shifts. Genji can hear vague sounds. They sound like nothing more than ambient noise at first, something happening where there had been nothing. Genji doesn't think to credit the noises to other people. Animals, perhaps. A strong gust of wind shifting the destruction. But not people._   
  
_Who would be out here? He and Hanzo had done what they could to ensure no people could stumble upon them. Nothing good comes from letting strangers stumble into a crime family's business._   
  
_The source of the noise comes up close to Genji—his remaining instincts can sense that much, at least. There is a faint glow in the nothingness, a silhouette with wings—an angel? No, Genji isn't foolish enough to believe in angels._   
  
A louder noise than any of the others follows the appearance of the glowing silhouette. More silhouettes follow and fade until the nothingness returns. The sounds fade.   
  
Genji opens his eyes.   
  
He blinks, rubbing his eyes to chase the blurry sleepiness away. It's dark, but he adjusts to it quickly. Next to him there's a faint glow of a clock.   
  
3:06 AM.   
  
Still some hours until sunrise, then.

Genji would not hesitate to call himself a light sleeper, but it is rare that he cannot sleep through the night while in a safe place. A Watchpoint filed with Overwatch agents both old and new is somewhere he considers one such place. He closes his eyes once more.

_“Ryu ga waga teki wo kurau!”_

_His eyes are closed, but he can see the bright blue glow of Hanzo's dragon flying toward him. He feels their strength. There are deep wounds covering his body and he can do nothing to avoid them. all he can do is sit and watch and wonder why—why did things come to this point, why couldn't he and Hanzo come together to create something good?_

_Whywhywhywhywhy?_

_The attack hits._

With a gasp Genii comes back to reality.

The lingering exhaustion of first waking up has faded and left only alertness in its place. Genji swings his legs off the edge of the bed. Just as well. As long as his memories haunt him, any real desire for sleep will elude him. He stands. He brings his arms over his head and stretches, brings them down and reaches for his feet. He does this more out of habit than necessity. Robotic imitations of muscle do not have the same needs as the human equivalent, yet he finds the act of stretching to be something of a comfort.

On the nightstand with the clock rests his visor and mouth guard. He puts those back on. For a moment, Genii holds his arm out, looks at the artificial sinew and the metal that make up the entirety of it. There is nothing human about his arms now. His legs are the same. But there are other parts he could remove, places where bits of his human body still exist. Would it not make him feel more human to do so?

Genii shakes his head.

3:57 AM now.

At this hour the halls are quiet. Genji walks to the end of the hallway adjacent to the one his room is in. His destination is Zenyatta’s room, but he finds himself pausing at one a couple doors away first.

Hanzo's room. In truth Genji is shocked his brother has a room here. A large part of him believed Hanzo would never accept his invitation to join Overwatch. It is…. Relieving in a way. His faith in Hanzo was not misplaced.

And yet.

Genji turns away from Hanzo's door.

The sharp pain of an arrow slicing the skin of his arm throbs despite Genji’s complete lack of flesh there.

“ _By walking away from your duty you dishonor our family!”_

Genji's fist collides with Zenyatta's door.

The thud echoes through the empty hallway. His shoulders slump. The burst of anger slips away as quickly as it came. The world seems to go still around him until a door slides open behind him.

“Genji? Everything all right, love?”

He turns to face Lena. Her shirt is slipping off one shoulder and her shorts hang low on her hips. Glassy eyes are that half lidded can't seem to focus on any one place.

Genji’s own gaze turns to Hanzo’s door. Although he was loud enough to wake Lena, it seems his brother remains undisturbed or uncaring of the noise. He looks back to Lena.

“Yes, I am fine. Go back to sleep,” Genji says.

A soft click and the sound of a door sliding open behind him alerts him to Zenyatta’s presence. Genji inclines his head towards Lena’s door.

Lena looks between Zenyatta and Genji. Concern breaks through the exhaustion for just a moment. In the next a small, sleepy smile spreads on her face.

“Alright, but if you ever need anything you know you can talk to me, yeah?” Lena waves and heads back into her room.

Silence falls over the hall once again with her departure. Zenyatta places a hand on Genji’s shoulder. He gently guides Genji into his room and Genji allows himself to be lead.

“You are troubled,” Zenyatta says when Genji offers no explanation for his presence here.

Genji sits on the unused bed in the corner of the room. His elbows rest on his thighs, his hands clasped between his knees. He tilts his head towards the ground

“Master, I… When you took me under your wing, you taught me to accept myself for what I am.” Genji stops. He sucks in a breath and tries again. “I learned to forgive Hanzo for what he had done. But having him here now has brought back memories that have not haunted me since we met.”

_A thin gust of wind blows past Genji’s face, a sharp sting accompanying it. An arrow sticks out of the dirt at his feet._

_“You have a duty to this family, Genji.You do not want to face the consequences of abandoning it.” Hanzo says._

_Another arrow is nocked, the bowstring drawn. Every movement Hanzo makes is a warning, every twitch and twist and sound a message. Genji turns to face his brother._

_“I am certain you can lead the clan without my help, Hanzo. It is what you were born to do.” Genji holds a stiff posture. He looks Hanzo dead in the eye. For all that Genji might be disappointing him, he is certain Hanzo will not shoot._

_Hanzo sighs. He lowers the bow._

_Genji smirks. “I will be back later tonight, Hanzo. Don’t wait up for me.”_

_He deliberately steps on the arrow still on the ground as he leaves. The wood creaks and cracks under his sneakers. He kicks the broken arrow away and starts for the arcade._

_“Forgive me, Genji. You have brought this on yourself!”_

_A bird takes off from a tree. The foot Genji had lifted to take a step hits the ground._

_And then there is pain._

_Genji grits his teeth, sucks in a pained breath as he moves to dodge a second incoming arrow. The first is lodged in his shoulder, penetrating one end and sticking out of the other. His vision burns red. Genji moves behind a large rock. It is poor cover and only affords him a few seconds before Hanzo is on him._

_Another arrow comes flying towards his face. Three shuriken fly towards Hanzo. One knocks the arrow out of the air. A second scrapes the skin of Hanzo’s throat. The third is deflected._

_Genji leaps out from behind the rock. His sword is drawn whip quick, just in time to deflect two more arrows._

_“Hanzo!” Genji sends more shuriken at his brother._

_Hanzo dodges them, dropping to the ground and then lunging towards Genji. A hand closes around his wounded shoulder before he can move out of the way, searing pain shooting up and down his arm and he shoves Hanzo off to lessen the pain and–_

“Genji.”

And--

“No!”

Genji’s hands fly up to his face. He claws at the switches keeping his visor and mouthpiece on. Breaths come in the form of pained gasps. His headgear falls to the floor, hands shaking too much to keep a hold on it.

“Genji.”

His head snaps up. Genji half expects it to be Hanzo in front of him, but no. No, it's Zenyatta in front of him and it was Zenyatta’s voice calling his name.

“Forgive me, Master. I–,” Genji silences himself when Zenyatta holds a hand up, gesturing for him to stop.

“There is nothing to forgive.” Zenyatta floats closer. He settles on the bed at Genji’s side, close, but still allowing him his space. “You have forgiven your brother, but you have not lived with him for many years. You will have to learn how to do so again, as the people you are now rather than the people you were then.”

“I invited Hanzo here because I thought the work Overwatch does could help ease his spirit. I am beginning to wonder if I made a mistake.” Genji tucks his legs up under him. He rests his hands on his knees and forces his breathing to slow.

For good measure he sets his systems to force cool down.

Every movement comes with a soft mechanical whirring. It comforts him and grounds him in the present.

“Reconciliation will be difficult and it will be slow. That does not mean it is not worth working towards,” Zenyatta says. “I feel it has been too long since we have meditated together. Join me.”

Genji spares one last look at the door. In the room directly across from this one is Hanzo–Hanzo, who is here because Genji somehow managed to coerce him here. Hanzo, who nearly murdered him. Hanzo, his brother.

He takes a breath.

He can do this.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is really only the first chapter of the intended story, but since I'm about to start law school and that will eat a major chunk of my life, I'll probably only update this sporadically so I'm marking it as complete for now.


End file.
